If you have been wondering where all the blogging, podcasting candidates are so far in the current federal election in Canada, I direct your attention to Elgin Wyatt, NDP candidate for the Battlefords-Lloydminster constituency. A disclaimer is in order - Elgin is a colleague and friend of mine, and I’m also managing his web site during the campaign.
Regardless, I still think that his campaign represents not only a change in political campaigning in Canada, but maybe an evolution in the relationship between the government and the population at large. Elgin is putting his ideas up front where anyone can see them (including his response to some of notions that I would describe as racist). Comments are open on his blog (filtering for spam of course - online casinos and pharmacies aren’t a major campaign issue), and he is responding to the comments. Wow - we seem to have a genuine dialog going on here. What a refreshing change from the federal party leaders who seem to have had their craniums exorcised of any thoughts that stray from their talking points. ;^) A new development - Elgin is now podcasting. Well, sort of podcasting, but give me a little slack - I’m trying to change the world, and we can’t expect major alterations all at once. Technically speaking, these are radio ads that we are posting up on the web site. Anyone is welcome to subsribe to the podcast, or listen to the audio on the website via the uber-cool audio player plugin for wordpress.
We just might be onto something that could change the relationship between elected officials and the population at large. If you think its a worthwhile idea, you might even consider moving to the Battlefords-Lloydminster constituency before January 23. :^)
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